The Missoula, Montana bases company Montainer has begun selling the first prefabricated model of the shipping container homes they offer. The Nomad 192, as the home is called, can be purchased though their website, while the company plans to expand their offerings in 2015 with several other models, which can already be preordered.

While shipping containers are great for building affordable and comfortable homes quickly, not all architects are quite sold on their benefits. Many, however, still find the basic shape a great inspiration for designing their homes. Below are a few shipping container inspired homes, which are not actually built out of shipping containers. But some of them, nonetheless, do use very innovative building blocks.

Casa El Tiemblo, or Tiemblo House, got its name from the picaresque region in which it is located, namely, El Tiemblo, Ávila, Spain. It was built using six repurposed shipping containers and was designed by Infiniski and built by James & Mau Architectura. It measures a luxurious 190 square meters (623 square feet).(more…)

Shipping container architecture seems to be taking over the world, which is only fitting as these disused metal boxes lend themselves perfectly to building homes, cabins or office spaces. In Lisbon, Portugal the Village Underground Lisboa complex is currently being constructed. The shipping container building will be a multi-office space for artists and other creatives, while the architects also incorporated used double-decker buses into the design.(more…)

Using shipping containers to build residential houses is a great way of recycling the disused containers that are piling up in ports across the world. While more and more people are opting to build their houses out of shipping containers, an even bigger impact can be made when companies, or even governments decide to use shipping containers as the main building material for their building projects. Here are a few such projects.

A single, standard-sized shipping container works out great for a tiny living space, but might feel a little cramped. And therein lies the beauty of constructing a house out of shipping containers. You can easily stack them up, or line them side by side to create a larger dwelling. Below you will find five of the most ingenious luxury homes made from shipping containers, which are still quite sustainable, despite their larger size.